Nomos νόμος

(989 words)

Article Table of Contents

I. Name

Usually, in the Greek Bible the word nomos, law, is used to refer to the OT and Jewish Torah as a set of rules for life. (For a general treatment of the role of the law in Jewish writings of the Second Temple Period see the overview of Sanders 1992; the NT material is dealt with by Hübner 1981.) In the letters of Paul and in the Jewish apocalypse 4 Ezra, however, the word sometimes seems to designate a supernatural power or agent.